Enrollment up at 3 parochial schools

Administrators believe variety of issues bring families to Christian education
By: 
Luke Reimer
Reporter

With the 2021-22 academic year underway, three area parochial schools are seeing a noticeable increase in their student counts.

“St. James currently has 215 students enrolled in grades K-8,” said St. James Lutheran School Principal David Kaiser. “When preschool (3K and 4K) is included, the enrollment grows to 271 students.”

Similar to St. James, Sacred Heart Catholic School has seen a boom in enrollment lately — its highest in decades.

“We have 156 students in our school,” said Autumne Gee, director of admissions and development at Sacred Heart. “This is our highest enrollment in 20 years.”

Gee said that the school has seen a consistent 11% increase in enrollment over the last couple of years.

One other school that has seen a rise in enrollment is St. Anthony School in Oconto Falls.

“We have 103 kids in our school,” said St. Anthony Principal Sue Beschta. “This number is higher than our previous years. It is likely the highest enrollment in our school’s history.”

These schools in the area have seen an increase in their enrollment numbers within the last couple of years.

“Enrollment has either maintained the level of around 200 students or increased in the past 10 years,” said Kaiser. “This was an unexpected growth of students this year.”

Kaiser attributed the growth in enrollment to four factors — Christian-based education, a family feel, class size and the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program.

“The primary factor that families look for when considering St. James, is a Christian-based education,” said Kaiser. “This is called the St. James difference. Other public schools are not able to talk about Jesus Christ.”

St. Paul Lutheran School in Bonduel has seen a slight decrease in enrollment this year compared to last year.

“We have 203 students enrolled this school year,” said St. Paul Principal Gerald Schmidt. “That is a few less than previous years.”

With the growing enrollment at St. James, Kaiser said that most of the lower grade classes had reached their caps, forcing the school to turn away a dozen students.

“This has been our greatest increase in enrollment in five years,” said Kaiser. “Part of this enrollment increase was due to the number of students that St. James retained when we were able to safely navigate the COVID-19 pandemic last year and hold face-to-face instruction.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaiser acknowledged the job that the Shawano public schools did to keep class in session.

Gee attributed their constant growth in enrollment to the school’s ability to market themselves.

“We try to market and get our name out there as much as possible,” said Gee. “We are very active on social media and our website.”

Beschta said marketing helps St. Anthony to grow.

“We promote enrollment by being active in our community as well as utilizing social media, radio interviews, newspaper articles, etc.,” said Beschta.

Gee said the family feel of Sacred Heart is a reason why enrollment keeps steady. She said that the transparent communication between the staff, students and family helped during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have a good relationship with the health department,” said Gee. “We were able to effectively communicate news and updates to families. We built and continue to build personal connections.”

Kaiser said St. James does not spend a lot of time focusing on promoting enrollment.

“We simply ask if parents and their children are enjoying their educational experience at St. James, they talk with friends, family and even their neighbors about the benefits of St. James education,” said Kaiser.

He added that if someone has had a bad experience at St. James, he makes himself available to talk to that person to help resolve the issue, so that family or another family in the future won’t face the same problem.

Schmidt said that parents enroll their children at St. Paul due to the type of education that is promoted.

“Parents are looking for a school where Christ is included in education,” said Schmidt. “We provide an education with Christ at the center.”

Schmidt said the voucher program has helped to bring more students into the school, as well as give parents an opportunity for their children to learn about Jesus Christ.

“The voucher program was set up five to seven years ago,” said Schmidt. “There is a line of income level and if parents are below that level, they can apply. Families are then chosen to receive free tuition at a parochial school.”

Sacred Heart employs a similar method in an effort to promote enrollment.

Gee and Sacred Heart also rely on testimonials from current and past students and family to help spread the word about the school.

“We want current families to share the experiences that they and their children have had at Sacred Heart,” said Gee. “We will continue to pray for families, students and staff.”

Like the other schools, Beschta believes that parents choose St. Anthony due to education that is surrounded by catholic faith.

“Children attend Mass, have question/answer sessions with Father Greg, pray the rosary and attend adoration on a weekly basis,” said Beschta.

She said a small class size is an intriguing option for parents.

“Smaller class sizes allows for individual attention, personal growth and a family-like environment,” said Beschta.


lreimer@newmedia-wi.com